Posted on 03/22/2005 7:54:59 AM PST by Pendragon_6
(CNSNews.com) - A federal judge in Tampa, Fla., has refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube and he said key aspects of the family's case are "without merit." Terri's parents immediately appealed the ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, but by all accounts, the outlook is grim for the brain-damaged woman at the center of the legal battle.
(CNSNews.com) - Judge James D. Whittemore has engaged in a gross abuse of judicial power, the National Right to Life Committee said on Tuesday. "Giving not even the slightest deference to an Act of Congress, without even allowing time for meaningful legal argument or consideration of evidence, Whittemore has ruled that Teri Schaivo's death sentence must be carried out," said Burke Balch, the attorney who directs the NRLC's medical ethics center. In a press release, Balch noted that unless higher courts issue a stay on appeal, "an innocent young woman will be denied what every mass murderer convicted in state court gets - her day in federal court." In a ruling released Tuesday morning, the judge said Terri's parents have no "probability of success on the merits" of the case, and he denied an emergency request to have Terri's feeding tube reinserted.
As to constitutionality of this decision, I say it's pure, unadulterated Bravo Sierra. This Judge could easily have ruled constitutionally that she had a right to life, which trumps all of the other legaleze and mumbo-jumbo being spouted by those who support having her killed.
Common sense has fled so many of our people, even our judges. When there is the least shred of evidence, doubt or disagreement in such a situation as this, particularly amongst direct family members who are willing to lovingly care for her...you ERR ON THE SIDE OF LIFE!
Anything short of this is an abject violation of the most fundamental principles upon which this Republic was founded.
We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are the right to life...
If we as a people cast that aside, if we allow it to be cast aside, then we tread a path that will lead to our ruin, our enslavement and our destruction as a soveriegn Republic and a nation founded upon liberty and the rule of law, that law being undergirded by fundamental moral principle.
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."- John Adams, Oct. 11, 1798"
Sadly, in this ruling and episode, as with many others of our day (ie. abortion) we are seeing exctly why Adams said this and are living out the negative of John Adams statement...right before our eyes. God bless those who are standing for life, against the culture of death. May we as a people have the fortitude and the willingness, if neccessary, to stand boldly and resoultely on these principles against such conditions of our day.
In most states, the judges have a "good ol' boy" attitude--no regular meetings, mind you, just the inclination to rubberstamp what other judges have ruled before, "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" kind of thing. This might be part of it. No matter what the mechanism, however, the result is the same: murder by torture.
Laura Ingraham has been saying it all morning, and I certainly don't mind being an echo chamber for her--if she were a terrorist in U.S. custody, an underage premeditated murderer, or a beached whale, she'd be getting food and hydration right now.
See tagline
Yes. If her name were Tehiri al-Shaifo, she'd be treated like a queen.
Let us never forget what the DeathoCrats are doing, with the help of a few RINO's. Let us especially not forget when any and all of these cowardly excuses for human waste come up for re-election.
They're all for killing off lots of unborn children (a majority of whom are minorities),
they're for killing those who have committed no wrong but are inconvenient for their families,
they're against building a defense against nuclear missiles (millions of lives at risk),
they're against killing those who have murdered others (rewarding them for their lethal acts),
they're against capitalism (lower wealth clearly translates into higher fatality rates in most areas, and not just healthcare... see the 10k dead in Iran's last 7.0 quake, and the 0 dead in ours),
they're for pulling out our troops (terrorists once again have incentive to make there attacks in America against unarmed and unprepared innocent civilians, rather than having to confront armed and prepared soldiers in Iraq),
their preferred Socialist form of government slaughtered 100 million souls in their own nations in the last century...
DeathoCrats.
D'oh! There = their!!!
The federal judge is a Clinton appointee - no surprise on the decision. Pray that she gets a conservative appellate panel. God knows the scum liberals will do anything to kill her.
THAT will save us a LOT of tax dollars which has been going to pay the salaries of Senators and Representatives. I can't wait to tell RATS like Pelosi, Boxer, Kennedy, Kerry, Clinton, Feinswine, McCain, and their ilk, that their services are no longer needed. LOL See..... there is a silver lining to every cloud.
I don't care for the federalization of the case. I would like to have seen physical therapy and an MRI of Mrs Shavio.
When I keep seeing fairly responsible people rule the same way, I don't have as much strength of convicition that an error has been comitted.
If her frontal cortex has atrophied, then she is brain dead. It is certainly an unusual case for her survival with atrophied frontal lobes, but that is pretty strong evidence that the judge is making a resonable, albeit difficult decision.
"I'm not sure we can get it done here in Florida," Martinez quoted (Gov.) Bush as saying just after a new Schiavo measure stalled in the Florida Legislature. "Do whatever you can federally."
It seems the Governor of the State has found no relief and lost confidence in the Legislature and Judiciary and has called in the Feds. It can't now be said that the Feds have no business there.
The Executive Branch wields the authority of enforcement, security and investigation, Congressional investigations aside. Congress should step aside and ask the President to handle this.
Time for Federal Marshals and agents in black shiny FBI shoes.
Their not giving deference to the CONGRESS because IT'S RULED BY REPUBLICANS.
Good grief! Every bleeding heart liberal is all over the TV spewing stuff about DeLay is doing this to cover up his ethics "violations" - WHAT VIOLATIONS ..?? He doesn't have any.
Jeff, be real. As soon as the law was signed, and the Appeal filed, and assigned, when you saw that it was drawn to a Clinton appointee, did anyone really expect a different outcome ?
MedBlog Doc debunks and questions Terri's CT scan. Other docs comment on other problems with it. Great read!
I hoped...and still do. There is the 11th circuit next.
And .. instead of investigating the actions of the husband - and his cruel and unusual treatment of his very own wife - these CLINTON COURTS are focused on Tom DeLay's "ethics violations" - WHICH DON'T EXIST!!
WHEN IS THE HUSBAND GOING TO BE EXPOSED ..???
It's about time to recognize that this isn't about the impropriety of spousal rights, legal guardianship or power of attorney. This is about judicial activism that favors one party over the other on grounds other than the merits of the case, existing law and core principles that underlie all law in this land, that is, our sovereign rights as individual human beings.
The Constitutional "scholars" who have been arguing that "due process has been done over and over again" fail to recognize, whether by ignorance or intent matters not, that due process is not applied merely by going through the motions of procedure but must be manifested with the spirit of impartiality and observed by following the intent of the letter of the law not just its course.
That is why Section 1 of Amendment XIV closes with a conditional statement concerning equal application of the law. It indicates, in fact mandates, that due process must be applied without prejudice or the entire process fails Constitutional muster.
...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The honored legal standing of a spouse's power of attorney should not be in question here and I don't believe it has been. I would not support Congress, the President or anyone else who challenges its traditional standing.
It is time now, however, to actively answer the question raised in this case; "has Judge Greer elevated spousal right of attorney to an absolute that exceeds the individual inalienable right to life?" which is stretching that right beyond tradition or reason. The tradition I speak of is the American tradition embodied in the DoI, "we hold these truths to be self-evident", that life and liberty are the most honored rights of all. In fact they are held as sacrosanct.
If the Dems want to invoke more medieval or Mideastern traditions of spousal rights like bigamy, beating and the right to buy or sell a wife they are welcome to. That's probably not quite as repugnant as infanticide.
Let us also remember that the Jews were duly processed in Hitler's Germany. They rarely failed to follow procedure to the letter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.